According to many liberal journalists, normal is abnormal and respectable is scorn-worthy.
On March 29, Washington Post’s Ashley Parker published a piece about the close-knit relationship between Mike Pence and his wife Karen. Midway through her article, Parker noted that the Vice President made it a rule to never eat alone with any woman besides his wife.
Some on the left went crazy, criticizing the VP’s respectful stance as old-fashioned, demeaning to women, or even sharia-esque.
“Pence’s rule doesn’t honor his wife,” MTV News Senior National Correspondent Jamil Smith tweeted. “It uses antiquated ideas about gender and public scorn to place new responsibility upon her shoulders.”
Slate contributor Heather Schwedel accused the politician of holding “a pretty radically retrograde mindset” that views women “primarily as sexual temptations.” Schwedel also quoted formerly evangelical journalist Elizabeth Spiers, who ridiculously wondered if “Pence could argue that he shouldn’t have to hire women on a religious freedom basis.”
Linking to Schwedel’s piece, TeenVogue writer Lily Herman revealed her complete misunderstanding of the VP’s practice. “Mike Pence basically doesn’t interact with women,” she tweeted.
(What does Herman not understand about the concept “one on one”?)
Others made illogical attempts to prove Pence’s hypocrisy.
“Mike Pence won’t eat a meal beside a woman who’s not his wife but gladly accepted the VP position from a self-admitted puss grabber. Ok, ok,” wrote Tom McKenna, Deputy Politics Editor at Now This News.
“Sincere question. How is this different from extreme repressive interpretations of Islam (“Sharia Law!”) mocked by people like Mike Pence,” queried NYT contributor Xeni Jardin.
St. Louis Post columnist Aisha Sultan agreed, commenting: “He’s waaay more Muslim than Obama ever was.”
But gay Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern might just take the cake for the dumbest comment: “My take on the Mike Pence/wife thing is that straight people are weird,” he wrote.
